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small workspace. What do you do to make extra space?

11-22-2008, 04:47 PM

I have a small shop (19'x20'). I have had to work hard to make the small amount of room work. I am interested in what space saving ideas some of you have come up with over the years. here is what I have right now.

We have a landing that was taking up allot of space. I got my hands on some used file cabinets and put it on wheels and bolted some hinges to the landing. Gives me room to stuff the bikes and kids toys under the landing.

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I was just looking at my clutter today and shaking my head.
I filled 3 trash cans a couple of weeks ago,one today, and there is still more to go.
I like the vac. on the ceiling. My big -old school shop vac. takes about 3 times more space than it should. Even my shelves need about half of all the crap to go away.
Thanks for sharing your pics.
Randall
Austin Tx.

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its an air cleaner. 3micron filter inside. It has two speeds, loud and quite I put a carbon filter on the outlet. It works really well as a smog eater but I wanted some type of filter to cut the smell. As its an attached garage the wife complains that it smells when I get working. She wishes my hobby was wood work rather than steel

I do have a vac on the wall above my work bench. It was laying around the garage for the longest time and I claimed it Its actually really nice to have a small vac when on the bench. If I need to suck some fumes or clean up the bench it makes it a snap.

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Looks like you have a foot or so above the torsion spring on the door??
In my old shop I built a storage rack up there for longer stuff. Always get my tubing etc in 10ft lengths which fit nicely above the door.

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Looks like you have a foot or so above the torsion spring on the door??
In my old shop I built a storage rack up there for longer stuff. Always get my tubing etc in 10ft lengths which fit nicely above the door.

I was thinking that too. Another idea would be to build a small shelving unit under the workbench to the right side, maybe 2' X height of bench to store all your small items, spray cans, clamps, etc. On the wall add a few shelves the full length above the height of your cut off saw and organize everything. You'll be surprised how much room you come up with. I did this in my shed to accomodate my motorcycle and was able to eliminate a complete shelfing unit.

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good tips... I just don't know how you get long steel above the door. With the door opener arm right in the center and all.

All of my "small" stuff is in the filing cabinets actually. I think the next step for sure is what KBAR mentioned, building proper shelves to allow more stack able storage. I was thinking about making a rack for milk crates (I have access to a endless supply.

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I can't give you any good ideas for space but my shop walls and cieling are OSB like yours and I painted them bright white. It really helped with the amount of light in my shop and it made it seem bigger.

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for both my basement and garage i've had to cram 10#s of stuff
into a 5# bag. some of the things i do
- put everything you can on wheels (which it looks like you did)
- put shelves/bins/storage/etc _everyplace_. like under your
welding table or chop saw. also, wherever you see bare osb
there should be a shelf or something :-)
- hanging things on pegboards/walls just doesn't work for optimizing
on space. use shelves/cabinets/etc wherever you can. for instance,
the two cordless drills over your wooden workbench are using way
to much valuable real estate...
- don't be afraid to bury things. i have a bunch of stuff on a pegboard
that i don't use that often. if i left "free" would use up too much space,
so i park my roll-around tool chests in front of the pegboard. the few
times i need the stuff, i move the chests.
- get taller tool chests -- the 'stuff per cubic foot' factor
can be huge
- store things disassembled (such as the roller/stand next to your
chop saw.
the basic idea is to find every available sqft of wall or floor space or cubic
foot of storage space, and figure out a way to put the most stuff in the
space you can

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You've got a high enough ceiling that you should be hanging stuff from it. For example, your ladder will hang with a couple of hooks. You can even hang heavier and awkward stuff with a pulley system. I've got my kayaks hanging from my garage ceiling that way. the lift maybe cost $20 worth of stuff from home depot. The area above the garage door is prime real estate.

It's harder now that everyone is scaling back, but keep an eye out for people remodeling kitchens. they throw out perfectly good cabinets. they are awesome on the garage wall. A little bit ugly, but cheap and functional.

a rack for milk crates sounds like a good idea

It also looks like you have a bunch of small shelves. you might be better off with one big shelf instead of a couple smaller ones.

I don't see one, but an air compressor is usually pretty happy outside in a small shed.

Millermatic 180 Auto Set

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I don't like milk crates becuase they have holes in them. Small
things will fall through the holes and end up someplace else. Big
things can poke through and catch on other stuff.. I also don't
like them because dust and stuff can get in through the holes.
You might say "Dust? In a work shop? Big deal!" It can be a killer
on tools, motors, and so on, hat don't get used that often - it
builds up, collects moisture and grease-n-oil, etc, all to the
detriment of the tool.

As much as is practical (and affordable), I try to keep things in
closable boxes, bins, drawers, chests, etc.

Another thing I meant to say -- for tools that you use a lot,
get rid of those Free, Custom Made, Injection Molded Handy
Dandy Carrying Cases that so many tools & tool sets come in --
they take up _tons_ of space but their "stuff per cubic foot"
capacity is d.mn low. They are ok for tools & things that don't get
used much and maybe piled up in a corner someplace.